It may seem like a bad idea to send a small boat to explore the inside of a storm, but that is exactly what the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did in October. The seven-metre vessel was without a crew.
Saildrones can stay at sea indefinitely with a combination of wind and solar power. The Saildrone Explorer is modified to handle 140mph winds and giant waves.
A wing is the rigid sail of the Saildrone. The wing is half the height of a standard wing to reduce the risk of damage. The new wing allows the drone to run and sail upwind like a traditional yacht, whereas the earlier version only allowed it to sail down the coast.
The Saildrone project should provide useful data on rapid intensification, when hurricanes gain in strength over a few hours. It gives so little warning that intensification can be dangerous to coastal communities.
One of the five new hurricanes explorers, called SD 1045, is the first to sail through the eye of a storm and send back video and other data in real time.
